My Decision...Your Opinion

This is a discussion on My Decision...Your Opinion within the Carry & Defensive Scenarios forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Saturday afternoon, I exited the interstate, and the off ramp came up to a redlight at a major highway. I was by myself. The light ...

My Decision...Your Opinion

Saturday afternoon, I exited the interstate, and the off ramp came up to a redlight at a major highway. I was by myself. The light was red, three cars in front of me at the light. As usual at this off ramp, there was a person off to the side, sitting on travel gear, holding a sign saying "I'm Hungry, Please Help, God Bless". I drive a pickup, my windows were down and I was enjoying the day. This fellow hollered at me, "Hey, How about help me out". I had sunglasses on, so he could not read my eyes, only my expression as I shook my head in the negative. Evidently this guy was having a bad day, or he just didn't appreciate my honesty, but he jumped up, threw his little cardboard sign like a frisbee, and came running up to the side of my truck, screaming and hollering like a madman, and just being all around disagreeable. He proceeded to question my family lineage, my physical appearance, my Vietnam Service, etc. He would make a jumping move toward my door and then draw back, inviting me to step out of the truck. I calmly watched him thru dark glasses, not saying a word, while putting my truck in Park and reaching for my weapon in my ankle holster. I emphasize he has not touched my truck nor my arm on the window. While my hand was on my weapon, the light turned green. He spit, looked at me and said, "what ya gonna do, call the po po"?.....I've still not replied to him and drove off. The three cars in front of me had female drivers. I did not take my eyes off him during the confrontation to see who was behind me. As I got on the highway, I called 911, reported the incident, and was told a Sheriffs Deputy was dispatched. I parked directly across the highway from the ramp, and waited for the deputy. In the interim, the guy had ran off into the woods at the intersection around the overpass. While parked and waiting for the Deputy, another truck pulled up next to me and stated he had been behind me, witnessed all, and had called the police as well. I thanked him, he stuck around, Deputy showed, I identified myself and presented my CWP. He thanked me, said he had already confronted this man earlier in the day and that he had called his Shift leader for back up and they would apprehend and transport to jail, which they did. The Deputy thanked me for my restraint in not drawing my weapon. WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID..my decision was NOT to present my weapon, even though I definitely felt threatened, simply because the guy DID NOT touch me or my property. I was prepared to draw, with my hand on the butt, my door was locked, so he could not have opened it and tried to pull me out, however he could have landed a blow through the open window if he had desired.

Did I make the right decision in your opinions? By the way, this guy is STILL IN JAIL. He gave address at booking of Reno, NV.

Sometimes in life you have to stand your ground. It's a hard lesson to learn and even most adults don't get it, but in the end only I can be responsible for my life. If faced with any type of adversity, only I can overcome it. Waiting for someone else to take responsibility is a long fruitless wait.

Sounds o.k. to me. I would not present a weapon either , although it may have been drawn and pointed in his direction below the door sill. Putting the windows up will provide some protection from contact and thrown items or spit, so I might have thought to put the windows up .
Good job not responding to the verbal assault and calling 911 for help.

I think your decision not to clear leather was sound. I would, and have before in similiar situations, roll up my windows though, to add another barrier between me and the possibility of both physicial and verbal contact. This is also another reason why I always allow proper distance from the car in front of me to go around if possible (not saying you didn't). Over all I would say pulling your weapon would have been on the line of necessary considering the perps demeanor. If there had been any physical contact what so ever I wouldn't have hesitated to draw down though.

This actually reminds me of a time when I worked at a gas station during college, one car ran a stop sign and cut another off in the process, both stopped...and the car that ran the stop sign's driver thought he was not at fault, got out with a stick (not a bat, but a 1" wooden rod/stick) and went up to the other drivers window and started yelling, at that point I called 911 and wrote down plate numbers ect....after about 2 minutes of yelling at a closed window, the perp re entered his car and left the scene burning rubber.

The victim came to me and asked if I would make a statement if he called the police and told him they were already on the way. After giving my statement to the two officers, BOTH of them stated "if I was this guy in the car I would have drawn down on the guy". When I asked about the fact that the victim had a clear line of escape to just drive away the officers told me they still would have drawn down on the guy and told him to back away from the vehicle. So I guess its borderline if there's no physical contact.

exactlymypoint...after the fact, I thought about the pepper spray lying on my bedside table, that I have been meaning to hang on my dash...So non lethal would have been an option had it been available...Believe me, it's available now. As for pulling away, I did not have that option as I was blocked in front and back by other vehicles...However did not realize I was blocked in back as I had NOT looked in my rear view or side view. One mistake I definitely made in not considering that option perhaps...Seems like hindsight is always 20/20....That's why I posted and am appreciating the feedback.

Sometimes in life you have to stand your ground. It's a hard lesson to learn and even most adults don't get it, but in the end only I can be responsible for my life. If faced with any type of adversity, only I can overcome it. Waiting for someone else to take responsibility is a long fruitless wait.

I may have cleared leather but NOT presented my sidearm. I think I would want it out if I were to feel threatened.....and put it away (holstered) after driving off, never displaying the sidearm unless absolutly necessary. That's just me

Good that you were ready to feed him the muzzle since you would not have had much time to react if he decided to get physically violent.

Now might be a good time to invest on a large can of OC Spray to keep in your vehicle.
You certainly would have been justified dousing that crazed goofball with a face full of some "non-lethal" if he escalated that situation even a small amount more.

Ask yourself this though, if he had started kicking and beating on your vehicle, bad enough to leave dents, would you still have not produced the weapon? I know what my answer would be, as I'm sitting at the computer drinking a soda. The reason I ask is, you still have the same avenue of escape, so therefore, IMHO, it would still be the right thing to do.

The law in your jurisdiction may allow you to shoot someone damaging your property, but just because the law allows it doesn't mean you should.

I think he pegged you as someone that would be able to get him a ride to jail, as he was probably looking to get arrested. "Three hots and a cot."

Like already stated , it propbably would have been best to put the windows up at the first sign of trouble.
I think its a gun owners responisbility to act like they would if not armed untill it becomes absolutly neccesary.